Posts tagged “heavily engaged”

Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun's 141-year history to pull out one of the best moments from the archive. This week, Tim Stone's piece on grognard guilt, originally published in 2011. No battle reportage this week. Rather than confuse you with another tale of how Easy Company went east then north a bit then left a bit while Baker Company went west…

The replacement of today's Flare Path with this tale of turn-based D-Day derring-do means one of two things. Either Interpol has finally worked out the identity of Red Shrike (highly unlikely) or Yours Grudgingly has been persuaded to brave rain, family, and unfamiliar chip-shops, and Go On Holiday. Assuming I'm currently sunning myself on some storm-lashed British beach, normal FP service will resume next week.…

While those who don't read history are, allegedly, doomed to repeat it, they can at least sleep easy knowing they'll never find themselves on wargame forums grumbling about infantry AI, ballistics modelling, and uniform accuracy. There have been occasions during my long career as a bedroom battle orchestrator, when I've wondered whether I wouldn't have been a much happier player had I steered well clear…

No battle reportage this week. Rather than confuse you with another tale of how Easy Company went east then north a bit then left a bit while Baker Company went west then south then right a bit, I thought I'd try to get to the bottom of a feeling that has gnawed at the edges of my wargaming pleasure for the best part of 30…

Turn to page 20 of Flight Simulator X's pathetic excuse for a printed manual and you'll see a credits list of around 160 names. To my knowledge only one of those names belongs to a wargame design visionary. Quite what Peter Turcan contributed to the final FS isn't made clear ('User Experience' covers a lot of territory). To understand what he contributed to computer wargaming,…

Three of PC wargaming's most succulent fruit reached ripeness in the same fortnight in autumn 1997. Having featured Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and Close Combat 2 in the last two Heavily Engageds, it only seems right that the subject of this week's rumble reportage is the third of the trio. Beyond the jump is a world of hard-won hexagons, coveted core units, and tight timetables. Ready…

This week's battle broadcast comes to you from a picturesque Dutch city on the banks of the Rhine. It's September 1944, and a beleaguered force of British paratroopers, clinging by their fingernails to positions around Arnhem's strategically-vital road bridge, are about to participate in what could well turn out to be their final action. All that stands between the Red Berets and total annihilation is…

Being the oldest RPS contributor has certain advantages. You can attend preview events in un-ironic cardigans, you can admit to finding 90% of manshoots deadly dull, and best of all, you get to sit in the RPS rocking chair and regale the young'uns with tales of wargaming glory. That's what Heavily Engaged is all about. Over the next month or so, I'll be giving a…